This invention relates to a method and apparatus for automatically removing filler thread from a multi-end yarn tape and for thereafter taking up the individual yarn ends on corresponding take-up spools.
The deweaving technique of this invention was developed primarily for use with a continuous run dyeing process; however, it may be used with any yarn processing method which utilizes a plurality of yarn ends held together in a flat package by a filler thread, called a "lease", which essentially weaves the yarn ends together. A multi-end yarn tape yarn construction of this type is particularly useful in continuous run bath dyeing where the tape is run through a dying apparatus in which one or more dyes are applied to the yarn by a roller application technique.
In a multi-end yarn tape, a plurality of yarn ends, for example, 40 to 80 ends, of approximately equal length are woven together in the form of a tape by the leasing or filler thread. This tape forming technique is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,605,225, issued Sept. 20, 1971 to K. H. Gibson et al. A problem which has developed in using multi-end yarn tapes of this type and which has inhibited the use of such tapes in continuous-run dyeing is that it has been necessary to remove the filler or leasing thread by hand. This is an extremely time-consuming operation which has led many dyers to stay away from the use of such tapes. Moreover, even after the tape has been deleased by hand, it has then been necessary to perform several different operations separately. For example, after the leasing thread has been removed, the ends are separated on a machine which runs each yarn end into a separate container. These containers are then transferred to a winding apparatus which takes the yarn out of the container and winds it onto a spool. If the yarn wound on this spool does not have the required degree of uniformity for shipment, it must then be taken to another winder which winds the yarn end onto a further spool or a cone with the degree of uniformity suitable for shipping to the customer.
The present invention was designed to overcome the former difficulties in manual deleasing and to eliminate at least some of the steps in the above-described operation. With the use of this invention, the continuous-run dyeing techniques have become both practical and economically feasible.